Delhi Assembly speaker disqualifies MLAs Anil Bajpai, Devendra Sehrawat

New Delhi [India], July 8 : Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Wednesday disqualified legislators Anil Bajpai and Devendra Sehrawat on grounds of defection.
An Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Gandhi Nagar, Bajpai had joined Bharatiya Janata Party in May this year, while Sehrawat, who represented Bijwasan assembly constituency, also joined the saffron party after being suspended from AAP.
On June 20, AAP MLA Saurav Bhardwaj had filed an anti-defection petition in the Assembly against Bajpai and Sehrawat for joining BJP earlier this year, following which Speaker had issued a notice to them.
On July 24, the Delhi High Court had refused to entertain petitions of Bajpai and Sehrawat challenging Goel's decision to initiate disqualification proceedings against them.
"It is not obligatory on the part of the Speaker to decide on the preliminary objections first. It is for the Speaker to decide the disqualification proceedings. We leave this issue to be decided by the Speaker," a division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Harishankar observed.
"We find no reason to impose any mathematical formula for the House that it must decide the preliminary objection first or disqualification along with the objection together. It is the prerogative power of the Speaker to evolve his own procedure to conduct the proceedings in the House," it said.
Earlier, a single bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru had dismissed the pleas of the rebel MLAs, citing lack of merit.
Both the legislators had moved the high court against the jurisdiction of the Speaker to hear the case of their dismissal.